Open fridge . . . nothing to eat. Open the cabinet . . .nothing to eat. Lower expectations . . .and then repeat.
You know the drill. Your stomach is rumbling. You glance at your “eat healthier” New Year’s resolution that’s pinned to the fridge and consider the same old snack options: Apple? Ho-hum. Pretzels? Yawn. Yogurt? Snore.
One package of Double-Stuffed Oreos and about 1,680 calories later, despite your best intentions, you find yourself lying on the couch wishing you’d settled for “same old.”
I recently lost my food groove. To get my mojo back, I turned to my friend Meg, who is the picture of health. She eats so nutritiously that her idea of dessert is a sweet potato. Meg recommended five 150 calorie or less snacks from EatingWell.com that will titillate your taste buds and won’t compromise your goals for healthy eating:
- Apricot Canapés: Sprinkle a dried apricot with some blue cheese, chopped pistachios, ½ tsp. honey and freshly ground pepper. Now, if you’re like me, you’re thinking, where there’s blue cheese there’s mold. I spend half my life trying to kill the mold in my shower. Why would I want to ingest it? I am here to tell you that mold is your friend. Blue cheese is tangy and tasty—especially in this sweet and savory snack. If you can’t hang with the tang, ricotta is a good substitute. 64 calories each.
- Cinnamon Orange: Remove orange rind with a knife and cut the orange into slices. Whisk together 2 tbsp. orange juice, 2 tbsp. lemon juice, 1 tbsp. sugar and ¼ tsp. ground cinnamon and spoon some mixture over orange slices. Serve with a knock knock joke: “Orange you glad I didn’t say banana?” 86 calories per orange.
- Gorp: (‘good old raisins and peanuts’) is a fun word for trail mix (a mixture of high energy foods such as nuts, dried fruit, and chocolate chips). When I prepared a batch of gorp for my kids I was surprised how they descended on it like locusts. When they cleared away from the bowl, the chocolate chips had vanished. The entire bowl of dried fruit and nuts remained. I adapted the recipe to make it more kid friendly by melting the chocolate with the fruit and nuts in a microwave oven. Combine ½ oz. almonds, ¼ oz. dried cranberries, 1 tbsp. chopped pitted dates, 1 ½ tsp. chocolate chips. Mix the Gorp with a little honey and heat in microwave until chocolate is melted. Drop spoonfuls of mixture onto a wax paper covered cookie sheet and refrigerate until hard. I call it “gorp candy.” About 100 calories per cluster.
- Spiced Chickpea “nuts”: When roasted, garbanzo beans (a.k.a. chick peas) become super crunchy. Who knew? Blot chickpeas dry and toss in a bowl with olive oil, cumin, marjoram, allspice and salt. Spread on a rimmed baking sheet (or spend the rest of your afternoon retrieving stray chickpeas from the bottom of your oven). Bake, stirring once until brown and crunchy, 30 minutes. ¼ C. = 103 calories.
- Avocado tea sandwich: Combine 1 tbsp. mayonnaise, ½ tsp. lemon juice and 1/8 tsp. pepper in a bowl. Thinly spread on thin sliced wheat bread and top with thinly sliced smoked salmon, a ripe, sliced avocado, and thinly sliced cucumber. If tea sandwiches sound pretentious to you, they can be served without the “upper crust.” 143 calories per sandwich.
Meg taught me that you don’t have to lower your expectations to enjoy quick and easy food that’s good for you. Bypass the boring and break the mold . . . with or without blue cheese.
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Hunger triggered. Love all these snacks, thanks!
May your next meal go off with a bang!
Something about this post makes me want to whip up some guacamole … I’d also add a sliced apple with peanut butter to the list. I’d have to go through a detox program to quit peanut butter, and the salty with the sweet of the apple is a great blend of sugar and protein.
Ah yes, peanut butter and apple– the perfect balance of yin and yang.
Yum! I love blue cheese and also loved your shower mold analogy. I always forget about the roasted chickpeas. They are delicious. Definitely trying the dried apricot canapes.
Blue cheese: it looks bad, it smells bad, and it tastes so good.
“The entire bowl of dried fruit and nuts remained.”—-Hahaha, I expected that might be the case. 🙂
I can’t stomach blue cheese–icky–but that orange snack sounds wonderful as does the “gorp candy.”
There’s something about blue cheese that makes it look like it’s already been stomached.
Ha, yes! The same can be said of pâté.
I make my own almond butter and when I am looking for something sweet to eat, I will grab a piece of celery and smear with almond butter…yum!
Sounds terrific. I know what I’ll be snacking on today, though I’ll have to settle for Skippy . . .
😀
Lower your expectations. I’m really good at that.
The way I cook, my kids have gotten really good at it too.
Gosh, I need some healthy snack options, as well. And these all sound yummy. Thanks so much!
Hugs from Ecuador,
Kathy
My pleasure!
Yum! They all sound so fancy. LOL Healthy food that tastes great and makes us feel respected and cared for are triple-wins, IMO. Thanks for the ideas!
Thankfully eating healthy nowadays no longer means choking down wheat germ!
Not that I’m lazy, but a cute little mandarin orange sounds sweet, easy, and takes no prep time. I’m big on instant gratification these days; after surviving this horrendous winter I am entitled to the easy life.
Peel and eat works for me.
Orange you glad you didn’t travel the road marked double stuffed Oreos? These snacks sound pretty cool. You have to love anything called Gorp. It seems to me the key to sticking with healthy snacks is similar to healthy exercise…variety. If you have a number of different foods…and activities…to both choose from and take advantage of based on your mood each day you’ll be more likely to be happy and successful in attaining your nutritional and health goals.
Well said. I only wish that Oreos didn’t come in so many tempting varieties . . .
Love all of these, might be making myself some very soon. And making sure I have all these things on hand for future snacking
Good point, it is wise to have healthy ingredients on hand, otherwise it’s too tempting to reach for the Oreos.
I’m going to try the chickpea recipe. Sounds good, and better, certainly, than eating a bag of chips.
I love chips, but sometimes I find that it’s just the salt that I’m craving, so if I can find a healthy, salty alternative, I’m golden.
I agree that it’s the salt that I want.
the avo sandwiches are right up my street 🙂
Well put!
Mojo?
The recipes are terrific.
Getting there……fuggetaboutit.
If nothing hits me in 30 seconds after staring into fridge or pantry, I fall back to chewing gum.
Gum: +5 calories
Chewing: -15 calories
So there you go..
Brilliant!
Eating healthier. Exactly what I need to do.
Don’t we all!
Wonderful snack ideas Lisa (and Meg), especially No. 5! OMG! I love avocado and salmon — nom nom! 😛
Avocado is the new black!
Good stuff! I’m a big fan of lowered expectations, though.
Great to see you posting again!
Thanks!
Some great suggestions, Lisa., After the shock I had when I stepped on the scales this morning, I know I have to check this out. Yeowch!
Hope the tips help tip the scale in your favor!
I’m working on that whole mojo thing. It’s an absolute bugger when you don’t have it. Thanks for the tips.
My pleasure!
Fantastic ideas!
Now I’m feeling inspired and off to Trader Joe’s I go. THANK YOU!
Thanks! TJ is a great place to go for the ingredients.
Yes to the avocado! I just take one whole one and eat if for lunch 🙂
and I’ve been meaning to try those roasted chick peas!
Nice post!
It’s a meal in itself!
Such a great variety of choices and I have become more healthy due to my youngest daughter’s pursuit of a natural way to ‘beat’ her JRA. She had been on meds from age 13 to 28 and this takes a toll on your blood, organs and immunity system. She is trying to stay on a close to vegan or vegetarian diet. Although, she does occasionally eat meat or fish! I admire all of these ways to become healthier. Isn’t strange how once we get older, it becomes even more important? I find this to be my motivation! Smiles, Robin
How nice that your daughter is a source of inspiration to you when it comes to healthy eating. I hope her changes in diet improve her condition. All the best.
I’m totally with you on this thinking. In fact, last night I bought a bag of healthy pre-popped popcorn, advertised as having no additives and only 100 calories a cup. Unfortunately, the bag contained a bit more than one cup, as I discovered 675 calories later.
Oy, they get you with the small print!